[GNC] automatically account for gst on random purchases

[Michael or Penny Novack]

On 6/17/2023 10:06 PM, Karl May wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> For my business setup I am wondering whether there is a way to automatically
> account for gst on small random purchases (e.g. hotel, restaurant etc.).
>
> ...........
>
> Any suggestions how this can be automated such that the default is a
> transaction split and application of a default GST rate?
>
> Thanks


In looking for/expecting and automated solution you are thinking one 
should be reasonable. But that's ONLY for the (very) special case where 
the tax rate on things like "hotel", "restaurant", etc, would be  
uniform. Since I live in the US, I do not have that expectation. I know 
that every state imposes a different rate (and taxes different things*) 
and some municipalities are allowed to impose local taxes in addition.

Thus I expect to enter manually from the receipt which will spell out 
the amounts of various taxes. It would be much more work to go to the 
state and/or municipality sites to find out the rates (and its "rounding 
rule") and try to compute it myself. That's what the vendor (hotel, 
restaurant, store, etc.) has a POS system to figure out and of course it 
"knows" where it is located (which rules apply). In other words, even 
adding the complexity of a typical POS system to gnucash would not help, 
because the exact legal location is unlikely to be included in the 
transaction information by the time it gets to gnucash.

Michael D Novack

* It can even depend on the sort of business the vendor is as well as 
the item. Thus my own state of MA does not tax items of clothing costing 
below a certain amount. So one winter day, leaving the house,  I forgot 
to put on gloves. So say I stop to get some, it will make a difference 
where I stop. If I stop at the local hardware store  or garden store, 
taxed, as "protective gear". But if I stopped at the general store, not 
taxed, as clothing. So to be automated in gnucash, the POS part would 
not only need to know the legal location but how the item classed by 
that sort of vendor.